Archived News:
There's a
Max Payne interview on Voodoo Extreme talking with Remedy Entertainment's
Petri Järvilehto about progress on their upcoming hard-boiled third-person
action game. Saying they are "very, very close" to completing the
game, the conversation also discusses the Matrix-style slow-motion bullet
effect seen in gameplay movies, the self-adjusting skill levels the game will
employ, the level editor that will be included with the game, and more.
Volume four of GameSpy.com's
Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal developer's diary is online, authored by line
producer Nathan Plewes discussing working on quality assurance in the upcoming
Baldur's Gate II expansion. This is a very short update (less than four times
larger than this blurb), apparently saving valuable time to get back to Throne
of Darkness, as the length of time he's spending on playing it is the main
thrust of the article.
A new version 2.85.5 of the Infiltration
modification for Unreal Tournament is now available (thanks Stomped).
In addition to tweaks and bug fixes, the new version adds a pair of new weapons,
new "distance sounds," the ability to associate which camouflage
uniform you will use on each map, and more.
3DDownloads now has
version 1.20 of the Star Trek Voyager Elite Force Game Development Kit, updating
the tools required to make your own maps for Raven's Quake III-engine Star Trek
game. Thanks eliteforce.net.
There's a Jake Song
interview on RPG Vault talking with the principal creator of Lineage: The Bloodpledge,
the Korean online RPG that boasts a subscriber base greater than the entire
world's population (or close to it, at least). The conversation discusses
massively multiplayer gaming, and why "massively" takes on a more
massive meaning in Korea, the cultural influences behind the different thrust of
Korean RPGs, what Eastern and Western developers can learn from each other, and
thoughts on the future of the genre (though Jake's upcoming collaborations with
Lord British, who just signed a deal with Lineage publisher NCsoft to create a
company called Destination Games ( story), are not discussed).
Xproject.de's
Arena Interview talks with Björn Heußner, the project leader at
Soft-Enterprises, a German developer currently at work on a first-person shooter
(or "Ego-Shooter," as the site says in its native German) with the
code-name "Arena" (perhaps the most generic working title since Warren
Spector announced work on a game called "Shooter," which went on to
become Deus Ex). As was just mentioned, the conversation with the German
developer is auf Deutsch, but, as always, the whole shebang can be translated
via the services of Babel Fish,
as long as you can figure out what is meant by things like "jaja the drone,
that was Ambitioniert and into the trousers went," and of course, don't
mind that fishy smell in your ear (R.I.P. Douglas Adams). Topics include the
game's multiplayer focus; their 3D engine; the difficulties in developing an
action title in Germany, where access to such things is restricted; and more.
Included are three new Arena screenshots.
There's a
chat log on The Siege Works that recaps an IRC session attended by Sarah
"Calix" Boulian with cameos by Kwandao and Marsh Macy, all of Gas
Powered Games. The log, edited for clarity, recaps a conversation about Dungeon
Siege, including the Siege Editor's absence at E3, what the team is currently
working on, some background questions about both the team and their upcoming
RPG, and of course, the ever-popular more.
There's a
Hitman 2 preview on 3DActionPlanet with a look ahead at the upcoming sequel
to Hitman Codename: 47 (will this one be codename 48?). The first look article
is a hands-off preview, offering second hand-quotes from previously-published
interviews, but so little has been said about this project that those interested
will probably appreciate the summary of what is expected from it.
An update to Cliff
Bleszinski's .plan offers word that he's posted a document called You've
Been Given a Job Offer! (Let's Try to Avoid Getting Screwed) with practical
hints and tips on how to help make sure you are going to be taken care of after
you accept a job in the gaming industry. Cliffy says the article is based on
"horror stories" he's heard, so we can't even assume the worst about
his employers.
So Like Candy on A List Apart
offers the first in what is planned as a series of tutorials on making your own
games using that nutty Flash.
Happy Birthday to Chris Johnson, responsible for many stories of the day and
such around these parts (as well as occasionally working on one of those game
dealies).
Sometimes you only find out about a person and/or their contributions after they
are gone. This would describe my own ignorance of the work of Malcom McLean, the
transportation pioneer who invented "containerization," who just died
at the age of 87. Here's a bit from his
obituary (passed along by theAntiELVIS) describing the achievements of who
they describe as "one of the most influential people of the 20th Century":
He was the only person to have founded three
companies that were later listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He also founded
two other companies later listed on the Nasdaq stock market.
Fortune Magazine inducted him into its Business Hall of Fame in 1982, and
American Heritage Magazine in 1995 named him one of the ten outstanding
innovators of the past 40 years.
Last year, McLean was named Man of the Century by the International Maritime
Hall of Fame.
Link of the Day: JillaJang - How to flush
your BIOS! Thanks Ant.
Story of the Day: Quake for kitties
(CNET). Thanks Keith Passmore.
Bonus Story: Another side of Saddam - the shy romantic novelist
(Guardian Unlimited). Thanks Snapcase.
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